Peek Inside Patrice Rios' University Hills Home

The Austin designer is a proponent of repurposing shipping containers

By Gene Menez | photos by Julie Holder

Published: June 26, 2017

Like a chef who devours her restaurant’s creations, Patrice Rios lives the life that she creates for others. The 31-year-old designer is one of the city’s leading proponents for the trend of repurposing shipping containers as unique living spaces. Last year her design business, Sige & Honey, completed a duplex along East 51st Street that incorporated two of them. Another project, along Reyes Street in East Austin, will feature multiple containers when it’s finished later this year.

Why does Rios have a fascination with these 8-by-20 metal boxes?

“They are a smart alternative to the way we are accustomed to building,” she says. “Containers provide high durability and low maintenance and promote sustainability.”

Rios not only preaches the value of containers; she practices it. The three-bedroom, 1,922-square-foot home in University Hills that she shares with her parents, Jake and Marie; her sister, Asenette; and a rescue dog named Louie has a container in the backyard that serves as Rios’ home office.

Bathed in natural light, the space features a Scandinavian-style desk on one end and four plush pillows on the other that form a cozy reading spot. On the floors, a small section of blue tile breaks up the mostly porcelain planks, which have the look of wood.

But the most eye-catching part of the interior is the wild graphic that covers the length of a wall. Made from vinyl, the graphic is an explosion of gold, yellow, and grapefruit and provides a blast of visual interest to the clean space.

After returning from her office in Mueller or on-site visits with clients, Rios, a self-proclaimed night owl, will often head to the backyard container and work into the wee hours. (In addition to Sige & Honey, she also has a kitchen, bath, and interior design business, Troo Designs.) Outdoor string lights illuminate the yard at night, turning the area into a spot worthy of a movie shoot.

“I like working in here because my days don’t end,” she says. “I’ll do eight or nine hours in here, and I won’t even realize it.”

The rest of the ranch-style house, which was built in 1967 and renovated by Rios and her family in 2013, features an eclectic mix of furniture. The main living area, for example, is anchored by a pair of chairs that have midcentury wood frames but are upholstered in a blue velvet fabric. The chairs surround a coffee table with a brass, geometric frame.

“Any time I can mix rustic woods with metals and different shapes and colors, I do it,” Rios says. “I guess I would call this style an industrial-reclaimed-modern mix.”

She uses several stacks of books as a design element throughout the house. In addition, Rios displays dozens of knickknacks that have been collected over the years, including many that her father would bring home after returning from business trips around the world.

The most prominent design element in the home is artwork. Countless pieces, both large and small, cover the walls. A print of dozens of chairs in a grid hangs on a wall adjacent to the kitchen. A large, bold painting of a woman’s face at an angle serves as a conversation piece in the main living area.

In Rios’ bedroom, the wall behind her bed features 12 pieces of art, including some given to her by a boyfriend 10 years ago.

“I love the artwork,” she says. The boyfriend, who has been out of the picture for years, doesn’t elicit the same feeling.

When Rios was growing up, her father, who was a finance executive for DaimlerChrysler, was transferred several times for work, requiring the family to move to places like Portland, Syracuse, Mexico City, and Toronto for short stints. The University Hills home is the Rios family’s 13th in 25 years, but it’s their favorite. Jake even calls the place “magical.”

Rios shares her father’s affection for the house. “We’ve loved living here,” she says. It is, after all, the birthplace of her shipping container design business.